New age includes both electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained synth pads or long sequencer-based runs, and acoustic forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar and a wide variety of non-western acoustic instruments. Vocal arrangements were initially rare in new age, but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American-, Sanskrit-, or Tibetan-influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends or the realm of Faerie.

New-age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres. Irv Teibel's Environments series (1969-79) featured natural soundscapes, tintinnabulation, and "Om" chants and were some of the first publicly available psychoacoustic recordings.[3] In 1973, Mike Oldfield's progressive rock album Tubular Bells became one of the first albums to be referred to under the genre description of new age.[4]Steven Halpern's 1975 Spectrum Suite was a key work that began the new-age music movement.[5]By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music.

Kitaro, one of the most influential electronic/new-age artists in Asia

Cusco, a German new-age band, three times Grammy nominee for Best New Age Album.

Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite, released in 1975, is generally credited as the album that began the new-age music movement.[7] New age was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health-food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. Another prominent example of an early new-age album was when in 1979, R&B musicianStevie Wonder created the soundtrack for the documentary (based on the book) The Secret Life of Plants, which in turn was the first digital recording of a new-age album. In 1981, Tower Records in Mountain View, California added a "new age" bin.[8] By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for new age, and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new-age labels such as Paul Winter's Living Music and through signing of new-age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.[8]

On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time new-age-music format with new call letters KTWV, branded as The Wave.[9] During The Wave's new-age period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks".[9] Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1983, Stephen Hill's radio show Music From The Hearts of Space was picked up by NPR for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally.[9] Other new-age-specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams and John Diliberto's Echoes. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for new age, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice.

By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music, while new-age and adult-alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the U.S., and over 40 distributors were selling new-age music through mail-order catalogs.[10]

Definitions

Works of Greek composer Vangelis, noted for his film scores, exemplify the progressive side of new-age music[11]

New-age music is defined more by the effect or feeling it produces rather than the instruments used in its creation; it may be electronic, acoustic, or a mixture of both. New-age artists range from solo or ensemble performances using classical-music instruments ranging from the piano, acoustic guitar, flute or harp to electronic musical instruments, or from Eastern instruments such as the sitar, tabla, and tamboura.

New-age music with an ambient sound that has the explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as alternative healing, yoga practice, guided meditation, chakra auditing, and so on. The proponents of this definition are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes.[12] Prominent artists who create new-age music expressly for healing and/or meditation include Paul Horn, Deuter, Steven Halpern, Dean Evenson who in 1979 was one of the first to combine his peaceful flute music with the sounds of nature, Lawrence Ball, and Karunesh.

Music which is found in the new-age sections of record stores.[12] This is largely a definition of practicality, given the breadth of music that is classified as "new age" by retailers who are often less interested in finely-grained distinctions between musical styles than are fans of those styles. Music which falls into this definition is usually music which cannot be easily classified into other, more common definitions, but often includes well-defined music such as worldbeat and Flamenco guitar. It also includes expressly spiritual new-age music as a subset. There are retail outlets, that specify subcategories such as "nature sounds", "healing", "piano", "chants", and so on. Amazon includes also "Celtic", "meditation", "world-dance", and "relaxation", and iTunes Store includes "nature", "environmental", "healing", and "travel", besides other subgenres. The German new-age site Silenzio lists almost 70 subgenres.

The solo Michael Hedges were called new age for much of the last 30 years.

Popular themes in new-age music include space and the cosmos, environment and nature, wellness in being, harmony with one's self and the world, dreams or dreaming and journeys of the mind or spirit. Titles of new-age albums and songs are frequently descriptive: examples include Shepherd Moons (Enya), Straight' a Way to Orion (Kitaro), Touching the Clouds (Symbiosis), and One Deep Breath (Bradley Joseph).

Alternative terms

Greek musician and composer Yanni has had several albums reach #1 on the Billboard new-age rankings.

As described in this article, the borders of this genre are not well defined; however music retail stores will include artists in the "new age" category even if the artists themselves use different names for their style of music. Here are some other terms used instead of "new age".

Contemporary instrumental

The term "contemporary instrumental" can include artists that do not use electronic instruments in their music, such as solo pianist David Lanz.[14] Similarly, pianists such as Yanni[15] and Bradley Joseph[16] both use this term as well, although they use keyboards to incorporate layered orchestral textures into their compositions. Yanni has distinguished the music genre from the spiritual movement bearing the same name.[17]

Contemporary adult instrumental

This term was suggested by Steven Halpern in the June 1999 issue of New Age Voice as an alternative catch-all label for music which is classified by retailers as "new age", but which is not expressly spiritual in nature.

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